Robert de Groot

Robert de Groot is the Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the European Union in Brussels since May 2017. After joining the Netherlands’ Foreign Service in 1989, Robert de Groot held various positions within the Netherlands’ Foreign Ministry and abroad. He was previously Director-General for European Cooperation at the Netherlands’ Foreign Ministry from 2011 to 2016 – thus, during the Dutch European Presidency and the heyday of the migration crisis and the Turkey deal. Within that same Ministry, Robert de Groot was Deputy Director General for Political Affairs from 2008 to 2011, Director of the Security Policy Department from 2005 to 2008, and Head of the Bureau of the Secretary General from 2002 to 2005. Prior to that, he held the position of Foreign Policy Advisor to the Netherlands’ Prime Minister within the Netherlands’ Ministry of General Affairs from 1998 to 2002. Robert de Groot has an MA in Monetary Economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands.